Friday Stuff

Kyle Kulinski tells us that President Biden is up by 7 points in a recent Marist poll, which is positive news of course, though we do have a looong way to go until November ‘24 (and independent voters are still idiots...God forbid that our democracy goes down the tubes, but if that awful event happens, it will be because of them...and I think Kyle is doing a bit of navel-gazing here speculating about what kind of pull RFK Jr. could have with Dems – hopefully there isn’t any negative impact against #46)...



...and Beau gives us his take on Biden’s 3rd-quarter funding numbers vs. Combover Caligula...good point about the importance of the “cash on hand” dollar figure, where Biden also smokes Our Treasonous Orange Pustule – but yeah, Beau is right of course; have to be vigilant and take nothing for granted...



...and retired Army Major Richard Ojeda tells us about this wackadoodle MAGA “pastor” named Robert Henderson who didn’t think a president should be criticized under Trump, but whoopsie! He’s singing a different tune now that Biden is in office (more here)...



...and once more, I know what The Lincoln Project is (if you choose to make a donation, that’s on you), but they keep cranking out good clips, like this one about Gym Jordan, who I believe is going to make another attempt to be U.S. House Speaker - ugh!...



Update 1: What is it that they say about the definition of insanity? Doing the same wrong thing over and over and getting the same result? (here).

Update 2: Um, yep.

...and in a related vein, Brianna Keilar interviews Repug U.S. House idiot Austin Scott, who keeps repeating the same damn tired talking points about how the Dems took out McCarthy, he was the largest House fundraiser, etc. – kudos to Keilar for reminding this asshat that the motion to vacate was brought against McCarthy by a member of McCarthy’s own damn party, and if everyone in the GOP House had voted to keep McCarthy, WE WOULDN’T EVEN BE FREAKING TALKING ABOUT THIS!!!...



...and I didn’t know that “climate gentrification” was a thing, but it appears now that it is, particularly around Miami in Flori-DUUH! of course, given the encroaching seawater on that state from the climate change that they don’t want to seriously address; Thom Hartmann offers some commentary...



...and this clip from “The Classroom” at More Perfect Union tells us about The Secret Meeting That Broke Our Food System (destroying the “free seed” system and the role played by the ASTA – kind of wonky but important...definitely didn’t know about the battle to privatize every single molecule of our food, but I know I shouldn’t be surprised – DID know about the link between Bayer and I.G. Farben and Zyklon B, I have to admit, and OF COURSE Bayer absorbed Monsanto, who IMO is responsible more than anyone else for the garbage in our food...NSFW/H)...



...and I’m kind of liking this new tune from Paul Rodgers of Free and Bad Company...hope you agree.

Thursday Stuff

Leave it to that cowardly pantywaist Jesse Watters of Fix Noise to want REVENGE! against Palestinians in the utterly awful Israel/Gaza war...fortunately, a Navy SEAL put Watters in his place in a matter-of-fact way; I have to admit that I don’t understand how “Bibi” in Israel was caught completely off guard with an attack that apparently was in preparation for two years...in terms of an intelligence failure, yes, there is a comparison to be made between this catastrophe and 9/11 as far as yours truly is concerned (David Pakman tells us about it)...



...meanwhile, for the reality point of view on a related story, Joy Reid speaks with Mehdi Hasan and Michelle Goldberg on the utterly awful news of the 6-year-old Palestinian boy in Chicago, Wadea Al-Fayoume, who was stabbed to death (26 times? Dear Lord...), and his mother was attacked also...so much credit to Hasan in particular for calling out the usual suspects here...I kind of go back and forth on Goldberg (not crazy about the “keyboard radicals” stuff and wanting “a decent left,” to be honest, which she seems to backpedal from in the interview), but I’ll cut her some slack on this occasion...



...and Joy Reid quite rightly points out that the wingnuts howling about George Soros, in addition to being ridiculous (yeah, some retired billionaire on a farm or whatever in New York state is in reality this evil lefty puppet master), is also anti-Semitic, and Leeja Miller dives a lot deeper here into how Soros became such a boogeyman for conservatives...terrific reporting on how Soros made his billions and his “open societies” philosophy, and yeah, Miller nails it by tying all of the anti-Soros BS to Arthur Finkelstein (linking it to Viktor Orban and other Repug politicos going back to Tricky Dick...NSFW/H at the very end, but boy, is she ever right!)...



...and Jesse Dollemore discusses the utter dysfunction by the children in the U.S. House of Representatives and presents a clip of Chris Hayes talking with Jamie Raskin about, maybe, Liz Cheney or The Mittster as an alternative U.S. House Speaker...and here is my question in response; if the roles were reversed, would the Repugs be asked to capitulate for the sake of a Democrat? Probably about half past NEVER ON YOUR GODDAMN LIFE!...and yeah, good for Jesse here to point out, though Cheney and Romney support the Constitution (which shouldn’t even be a question for any of these knuckleheads in government), Cheney and Romney are TERRIBLE on the actual issues, and it does show indeed how far we’ve fallen that we’re apparently making that a secondary consideration (the Letterhack YouTube thing was yesterday I believe)...



...and oh yeah, as long we’re talking about The Mittster, I think we should rerun this campaign ad from Former President Obama on 10/19/12 about that infamous quote from Romney about letting Detroit go bankrupt during The Great Recession (here), in case anybody gets it into their head that Romney is some kind of a “reasonable” Republican (and yeah, you guessed it; time once more for “This Day In Doomsy History”)...



...and happy 66th birthday to Karl Wallinger of World Party.

Wednesday Stuff

Francesca and Brett Erlich bring us an update on the SAG-AFTRA strike, which apparently is going on because the studio heads are digging in their heels on the issues of AI, wages keeping up with inflation, and increased revenue share (the WGA strike has been settled for a little while now as noted in the clip)...that graphic with the studio CEO pay and median studio employee salary with the ratio of one to the other is pretty damn mind blowing and actually comparable to what corporate plutocrats in this country are earning vs. the workforce; not saying it’s right, I wish to emphasize, but only making a comparison...



...and Kyle Kulinski informs us that “Meatball Ron” #DeathSantis thinks that ALL Palestinians are anti-Semites, which is both factually incorrect and a ridiculous piece of wingnut propaganda...I think this is a pretty good takedown from Kyle about the dangers of the black-and-white thinking (or what passes for thinking, I should say) on the part of #DeathSantis and his same-party pals, as Kyle points out (and yeah, are there pro-Palestinian protests at colleges? Yep, but there are also plenty of pro-Israel protests in college campuses as noted here)...



...and Sam and Emma of The Majority Report wonder Why The Crimewave Myth Persists...the crew looks at a Target store closing in East Harlem with no data to back up the claim of an alleged increase in crime, though ANOTHER Target will be built about a mile from the one that will close, and yeah, I also think Target guessed wrong here on where the gentrification would take place; doesn’t sound like it really has much to do with crime...GREAT point about CVS and their stock buybacks; if you’re so damn worried about crime, maybe reinvest back into security indeed...and yes, I think there is a correlation between locations of violent crime and lowest minimum wages in the country as Emma notes...



...and retired Army Major Richard Ojeda tells us about some Texas Repug U.S. congressional dumbass named Keith Self who blames OMIGOD BIDEN OPEN BORDERS! for the fact that his party can’t get their goddamn act together in the U.S. House, though fortunately this clown Self was called on it by CNN anchor Boris Sanchez (who had better watch his butt now – as I’ve said before, the worst thing you can do in corporate media is NOT to be deliberately, factually wrong...it’s pissing off a conservative)...and by the way, Gym Jordan lost his second vote for speaker with more defections than the first vote, but not Bri-Fi of course...to do something about our PA-01 rep who supports a guy who did nothing when OSU wrestlers contacted him about being sexually abused, click here.



(And by the way, when it comes to Repug congressional dysfunction, there’s more than just the nonsense in the U.S. House and “Coach” Tuberville blocking DoD-related promotions as noted here...there’s also Rand “Fake Ophthalmologist” Paul blocking diplomatic appointments as noted here.)...

...and I know I’ve bashed the @DNC, @DCCC, @DSCC and related organizations plenty of times because of what I would call their “duck and hide” social media strategy (or what passes for one, with notable exceptions like AOC and Bill Pascrell of NJ), so the least I can do is put up this video of what they do with our donations; clip is almost a year old and I’m sorry I didn’t find it sooner (should not have been that hard to track down), but better late than never I guess (always a good time to contribute however you can, and this video is an important lesson IMO especially for the even-more-critical races next year)...



...and given the first clip, I’m in the mood for a tune about movies; this immediately came to mind.

Tuesday Stuff

Thom Hartmann tells us that Gym Jordan may end up as the next U.S. House Speaker and opines on what an awful development that would be, even though apparently Jordan lost the first round of voting...Thom goes down the whole sordid list of Jordan and Trump-related offenses, to say nothing of legislation Jordan has opposed, as well as the fact that not a single piece of legislation Jordan has proposed/introduced has become law over his 16 years in the House (and when you're a Repug who has lost Man Tan Boehner, you’re really out on a limb...despite the initial vote setback, I’m sure this guy, a member of this group, will cave as he always does and vote for Jordan – to do something about Bri-Fi at last, click here)...



Update: Yep, Bri-Fi caved for Jordan all right (here).

...and when it comes to the usual corporate media “take” on all of the dysfunction in the U.S. House that has created an opportunity for Jordan, you can rely on “both sides” Dave Gregory to find a way to blame Dems for this utter mess in one of our legislative branches of government (and actually, I was at least as PO’ed about Gregory’s “ferment on college campuses” and “anti-Semitic left” remarks also as I was with the “where are the Dems?” idiocy...”Dancin’ Dave” is indeed working overtime here to come up with some kind of faux equivalency between the two sides, as Jesse Dollemore tells us)...



...and given the theme of Repug politicians going off the deep end, Mike Figueredo brings us the story of someone named Joseph Viso, Jr. (anti-vax skeptic, anti-LGBTQ, thinks Dems are communists, etc.) who literally smeared sh*t on the locks and doorknobs of a day care where he had a dispute next to his business at the time...nice freaking guy...oh, and I guess I can only say THANKS, OBAMA! in response (and yes, I’m definitely kidding...sooo I guess this happened awhile ago, so why is it coming to light only now I wonder?...NSFW/H)...



...and this report from the CBC tells us that the U.S. and France, among other countries, are trying to contain the horror show going on in Gaza between Israel and Hamas...I have to be careful with these clips because I want to keep information as current as I can, and I also don’t want to get dinged by YouTube for violent content, which I really can’t do much about...doesn’t mean I’m trying to ignore this, I wish to emphasize...



...and I now give you the latest installment of “This Day In Doomsy History” (more or less), with a 10/18/08 clip courtesy of Michael Morrill and Keystone Progress...folks from Chester County, PA speak out in favor of President Obama and criticize the rhetoric coming from the McCain/Palin campaign aimed at former President Hopey Changey...I never criticized – or at least, I don’t think I did – some of the attacks from McCain aimed at Obama and Biden back then since they weren’t personal; my biggest complaints with McCain had to do with policy – of course, the former half-term Alaska governor who was McCain’s running mate was another story...this is kind of a relic that pre-dates the rise of the Gropenfuhrer of course, but I still think it’s timely to present something like this every so often as a reminder that we can agree or disagree without trying to tear each other to pieces in the process...



...and I may be a month or two early for this number, but I thought it was a neat newer tune (and sadly apropos), so here it is.

Monday Stuff

Emma Vigeland of The Majority Report brings us the latest on the U.S. House Speaker mess, with Don Bacon and Austin Scott criticizing their party for acting like the spoiled brats that they truly are; Scott did indeed take a shot at speaker, but lost the vote and said he would support Gym Jordan instead, who would be a typically horrific choice, which probably means Jordan has the best shot...and by the way, all I hear from this guy is crickets, except for some typically bland, milquetoast statement criticizing “extremism”; to do something about Bri-Fi at last, click here...



...and Leeja Miller gives us another well-done IMO clip, this time on The Heritage Foundation, which was founded in 1973 by Paul Weyrich, Edwin Feulner and also Joseph Coors (of Coors Beer)...good job by Miller to discuss the spinoffs of Heritage including ALEC, and the link between Heritage and the Powell Memo (which sprang in part from the regulation of the auto industry on behalf of consumers, to say nothing of linking cigarettes to cancer and warning this country about that also, which hurt Powell’s benefactors at Philip Morris)...didn’t know about the “Mandate for Leadership” that was ready when The Sainted Ronnie R set about trying to destroy our government in 1981, as well as future iterations of that atrocity...also didn’t know about the hand that Heritage played in Bill Clinton’s 1996 welfare “reform” bill, but I guess I shouldn’t be surprised...also didn’t know about Heritage’s rebound under Mango Mussolini (with the utterly execrable Jim DeMint leading the way)...and the “Index of Dependency” is another typically repulsive deliverable, if you will, from these guttural bottom feeders...also important to note the State Policy Network (founded in 1992 by Thomas Roe, former board member of Heritage) and their impact at school board and local zoning board/town hall meetings, which Miller discusses, as well as the link to Project 2025 (NSFW/H especially near the end, and yes, her swearing is appropriate IMO)...



...and the latest from Second Thought discusses What Happens To Rich People Under Socialism...to me, the takeaway is that there would still be rich people, but they would accrue wealth within a bottom-up framework in favor of workers instead of the “trickle down” propaganda that has been spoon fed to us by our media among other culprits...personally, I think you should be able to get rich if you also take care of your workforce, but you shouldn’t if you don’t...nice to hear some sanity on the issue of what a socialist economy would actually look like...“The main concern of socialism is equal democratic and economic power”...sounds like a plan!...



...maybe those opposing socialism think it would be like this scene from “Doctor Zhivago” (spoiler alert: it wouldn’t be...clip depicts life immediately after the 1917 Communist revolution in Russia)...



...and speaking of movies, RIP Piper Laurie (clip is from “The Hustler” of course)...



...and RIP also Rudolph Isley of The Isley Brothers.

Friday Stuff

David Pakman presents a clip of Sean Inanity basically interrogating RFK Jr. now that the, shall we say, lapsed Kennedy scion has declared as an independent candidate for prez which could potentially draw votes from the Gropenfuhrer...such a transparently pathetic attempt to prop up #45 and defeat the monster that has indeed been created in part by The Roger Ailes BS Factory as Pakman notes...



...and as we see here, the other talking heads from that joke of a network are laughably bad also, with Laura Ingraham saying the charges against Our Treasonous Orange Pestilence should be dropped, which is absurd for the reasons Kyle Kulinski points out...



...and when it comes to the legal machinations related to Our Ochre Abomination, Jesse Dollemore tells us the 45’s lawyers are actually arguing that he didn’t have a duty to “support” the Constitution, but only to preserve, protect and defend that most important foundational document (as if there somehow could be a difference between the two sets of terms), as part of his filing against those who argue that Trump isn’t allowed to run for prez again given that he supported an insurrection (I can’t believe this alleged strategy was concocted by people who graduated law school and passed a bar exam)...



...and believe me when I tell you that it takes A LOT for me to take Joe Scar seriously enough to include a clip from him here, but I thought this was a pretty spot-on commentary (with Mrs. Scar and Willie Geist) about not just Combover Caligula, but the whole U.S. House “leadership”...really no need for me to point out the insanity of the remarks in this clip since it should be pretty goddamned freaking obvious – oh, and the bit about “what does you-know-who have against Obama” was unintentionally hilarious...gee, I dunno – how about FREAKING RACISM!! How about everything Trump and his old man did to African Americans in their real estate businesses? How about THE CENTRAL PARK FREAKING FIVE TOO??!! I think Geist kind of tiptoes around a bit on that by mentioning the birther stuff, but that’s probably as far as he’s allowed to go.

Scar made a name for himself by doing everything he possibly could to attack the Clintons for any reason whatsoever, and in a totally propagandistic fashion (here). He helped put the “R” Party on its current abhorrent, utterly ungovernable path, so he has NO ROOM WHATSOEVER to go tut-tut over that bunch now...



...and when it comes to those with power and privilege (harking back a bit to the first clip), Robert Reich gives us a lesson on the robber barons of The Gilded Age and what it took to defeat them; we’ll need the fully marshalled forces of working men and women and families all over this country to overcome the plutocrats who want to totally rig our politics and economy in their favor at the expense of everyone else...



...and Jayar Jackson and David Shuster of The Damage Report tells us that Almost Silent Clarence Thomas haz a sad because the SCOTUS apparently won’t look at New York Times vs. Sullivan, which is a foundational court precedent having to do with press freedom; Thomas is apparently PO’ed in light of the media reporting painting him as the thoroughly compromised fraud and ideologue that he is and of course, being an entitled crybaby, he wants to get back at people and entities offending his delicate sensibilities...



...and Thom Hartmann discusses the forces trying to destroy this country...1) the corporatist monsters who, as Thom says, want this country to be something out of a Dickens story in terms of poverty and having to plead for table scraps from the billionaires; 2) the MAGA chuds who think Mango Mussolini is God, and 3) the “tankies” who think we should have an autocratic state a la Putin, Viktor Orban in Hungary, etc. (and Thom does another great job IMO in explaining how life is quantifiably better in blue states vs. red states by just about every measure, with the color terminology rising to prominence in the 2000 election, let’s not forget...and by the way, apparently Steve Scalise doesn't want to be House Speaker after all, as noted here)...



...and given today’s date, I looked for a “13” song on the calendar and found this moldy oldie – enjoy.

Thursday Stuff

Mike Figueredo tells us how King Elon I has utterly wrecked Twitter/X/whatever by allowing all kinds of unverifiable and neo-Nazi crap to go and propagate without moderation of any kind whatsoever; of course, hollowing out the company’s infrastructure has gone a long way towards this sorry outcome, which is also amplified with all of the propaganda raging given the Israel/Hamas war...



...and speaking of propaganda, Farron Cousins tells us that Alabama recently trashed a bunch of training manuals for preschool teachers, books that cost $165 apiece, totaling about $16,500, because they were "woke"? Really??...one of the most clear-eyed commentaries I’ve ever heard about the state of Alabama, and no resident of that state should feel so much as a speck of pride after hearing what Cousins has to say...and they should also feel more than a bit of contrition over electing this clueless, provincial goober (and I don’t mean Gen. Hayden...and yes, I know what Hayden actually meant), but I’m sure they don’t...



...and on the subject of performative nonsense, Jesse Dollemore tells us that Repug U.S. House Rep Nancy Mace of South Carolina recently wore a scarlet “A” on her dress after her vote to oust her party’s speaker Kevin McCarthy, believing that she’s being punished for being a woman and being demonized for her voice, or something (showing no undertstanding whatsoever of the meaning behind that symbol from Nathaniel Hawthorne's timeless novel)...in response, I’d like to link to an article on Dem D.C. U.S. House delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton – given that she can appear but not actually vote on legislation, I would say that Holmes Norton has much more of a right to feel that she’s “demonized” than Mace ever will...



...and once more, I’m keeping TYT on a short leash, if you will, but I thought this was a pretty spot-on commentary by Ana and Cenk about idiot Repug lawmakers like “running man” Josh Hawley saying we should divert aid from Ukraine to Israel, which is a typically idiotic and cowardly sentiment from a member of the “party of Lincoln” (and apparently, Cenk has announced a run for president, which means to me that TYT has officially “jumped the shark”)...



...and Kyle tells us about politicians losing their sh*t over Rashida Tlaib with a Palestinian flag next to her office – too freaking bad!...GREAT point by Kyle that just because you may support the Palestinians, that doesn’t automatically mean that you support the Hamas butchers also...



...and I probably shouldn’t include this tune because this band is from Atlanta (hiss, boo – just kidding...go Phils!), but I think it’s a catchy number anyway.

Wednesday Stuff

Beau gives us his take on “bias,” which can take many forms, which likely led to the horrific assault on Israel by Hamas (and which played a role in the January 6th attacks, and 9/11 also as far as I’m concerned...you could probably go back pretty far with Beau’s observation, likely to Vietnam also)...he also had another commentary where he said he hasn’t seen any evidence to indicate that Combover Caligula gave away any intel that enabled Hamas to launch their horrific attack – I’ll accept his point since I think he has more of an inside track than I do, but I’m only saying that #45 wouldn’t know enough to know what it was that he could have given up; combined with other intel, it could have given Russia/Hamas what they needed...and yeah, I’ll never get a conclusive answer on that either, but at a minimum, I think the possibility should be considered and examined, especially because of this...



...and Mustafa Barghouti of the Palestinian National Initiative speaks out in defense of his country (fractured as it is inside an open air prison that Israel created) on Fareed Zakaria’s CNN program...as Emma Vigeland points out, Barghouti may not be aligned with Fatah or certainly Hamas (Fatah recognized Israel but, to hear Barghouti tell it, Netanyahu didn’t recognize Palestinian land based on a 2014 agreement, a claim which I believe), but for Barghouti to claim that Hamas only targeted military assets is a cruel, sick joke...that said, it’s impossible to ignore the context behind the Hamas attacks as well as those of Russia against Ukraine...



...and this BBC report with correspondent Nick Beale tells us about the Israeli air strikes on Gaza and tells us about the casualties/possible hostages, including Brits and Americans (updates are here)...



...returning to political stuff in this country, Kyle tells us about Ronna Romney McDaniel saying that the Dems are “pro criminal” and “pro Fentanyl” or something...so glad to hear Kyle point out the double standard of the corporate media outrage cycle when a Dem puts his or her foot in it, but when a Repug does the same thing, cue the sound of crickets...I actually agree with what Kyle says here about 2016 vs. 2020 Trump voters; I think some of the ’16 people were well-intentioned but made an awful mistake, but the ’20 people are utterly nutzoid IMO...



...and Mike Papantonio/Farron Cousins discuss Credit Suisse bank, which – allegedly – is sheltering $$ again for individuals and entities trying to illegally escape taxation, even though C-S was caught doing this once before, which was discovered when whistle blowers came forward...I wish I could argue with what they’re saying about Eric Holder, but they have better information on him than I do and I suspect that they’re right...also mentioned is the pizza shop owner in Ohio who says he doesn’t want to hire “stupid people”...I understand how a business owner can be frustrated on that score, but no, that definitely isn’t something you should advertise...that being said, I’m not going to go nuts over this one way or the other...



...and on this day in 1968, George Harrison recorded this tune for “the white album” for his pal Eric Clapton, who apparently had a toothache (Harrison added the saxophones, to be precise)...even though “Slow Hand” has made some great legendary music, he’s pretty much persona non grata for yours truly given stuff like this.

Tuesday Stuff

(I realize this pic might have been more appropriate for Indigenous People's Day yesterday...oh well.)

Leeja Miller brings us another well-done video, this time on Why Conservatives Hate Immigrants...gets into our LOOOONG anti-immigrant history in this country, in which we vilified first European emigres especially those who were German, Irish and Italian, then Asians, and then African Americans and Jews, and finally (up to now) Hispanics and Muslims...didn’t know Lincoln passed the Homestead Act and the Contract Labor Act to help immigrants find employment in war industries during the Civil War, offering land and jobs...among other important points, the clip tells us that the “great replacement theory” BS actually goes back to the 1870s...surprised to hear that Obama deported more immigrants than Trump, but maybe I shouldn’t be...not surprised to hear that #45 got rid of the Family Case Management Program that was working (and was cost effective) under Obama...NSFW/H...



...and Emma Vigeland of TMR brings us more on the Hamas strike against Israel, with an editorial in Haaretz laying the blame squarely at the feet of Netanyahu (here) - the latest is here...Hamas is terrible and does a pathetic job of providing services for the Palestinians, and there’s no excuse for killing or maiming ANY civilian or taking anyone hostage, but as noted in the clip, there were plenty of warning signs that this could happen that obviously were ignored by the Israeli government...I see no immediate end to this horror show, though I’d love to be wrong and see some solution worked out – not likely I realize...and once more, let’s not forget this too...worth noting IMO that the last Israeli head of state who embraced peace was Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, and he was murdered by an Israeli nationalist...



...and Kyle Kulinski tells us that the new “king of late night” according to Bill Maher (spare me) has called for civil war because “elections don’t work”...I agree with a lot of Kyle’s commentary on what an utter intellectual turd Greg Gutfeld is, but as far as Kyle’s “elections don’t matter” comment at the end correctly aimed at idiots who try to discourage voters, I would only point out that Kyle didn’t vote in ’20 by his own admission (or at least, not for Biden), so I really don’t think he has the intellectual high ground on that one...



...and Texas, unsurprisingly, has passed a law saying schools should have at least one uniformed, armed cop on the premises, who could be a retired officer or private security, but of course the Texas morons passing this law didn't provide enough funding for it, leaving school districts to pick up the rest of the cost (as Rayy Vana says, that’s $$ NOT used for textbooks, school lunches, cost of AC and heat for the schools or salaries to hire additional teachers...Nina Turner provides commentary also)...



...and this More Perfect Union segment discusses the plot to get rid of public schools (speaking of education), led by the Alliance Defending Freedom (I was equal parts horrified and enraged as I watched this; I can’t think of a word to describe the arrogance and sanctimony of these bottom feeders trying their best to destroy public education)...video also mentions the SCOTUS rulings of Zelman (’02), Montana (’20) and Carson v. Makin (’22) that have been whittling away at public education in favor of vouchers...looks like this will end up as another post where I’m unable to end on a note of “people power” coming to the fore...sorry – I’m sure I’ll be able to resolve that sooner than later...



...and I don’t know if you had a Gen Z, angst-filled heartbreak song on your musical Bingo card, but here it is anyway.

Monday Stuff

This news report from MSNBC tells us about the fighting that has broken out between Israel and Hamas (and yes, ANY loss of life or injury on ANY side should be condemned...an utterly horrific update is here) – I think it was Marcy Wheeler online who wondered how much Putin could be behind this, sharing intel from this country and you-know-who with our enemies to escalate tensions in the region to try and divert attention/resources from Ukraine...among other things, this is a disastrous failure of Israeli intelligence...the last president who I can recall was actually serious about some kind of peace in that region was Jimmy Carter; eventually, we’ll need to find a way to lead on that subject once more, but not for the foreseeable future, sadly (and by the way, let's not forget this when it comes to the "R" party and their lie about the $6 billion as noted above...more here and here)...



...and Sam and Emma give us what I think is a pretty good analysis on the recent comments from Hillary Clinton about “deprogramming” the MAGA nuts...those cretins from the “party of Lincoln” are sinking, SO DON’T THROW THEM A FREAKING LIFE PRESERVER!! And I hope that line that this might generate $50 million in fundraising on their side proves to be wrong (hopefully not more than that), but that may be correct unfortunately...and by the way, how the hell do you “deprogram” this? (these nut fundie "megachurches" have their fingerprints all over this too). And yeah, this response also comes right from the wingnut nether regions I realize...



...and as long as we’re mentioning those claiming to speak in the name of religion, retired Army Major Richard Ojeda of Rebel HQ (not him) tells us about this William Wolfe character, some fundamentalist preacher who sez (to the equally odious Stew Peters) that this country should submit itself to Christ (or at least Wolfe’s interpretation of Scripture), ignoring the separation of church and state that is implicit in the Constitution...



...and this Damage Report clip discusses a recent WaPo article making the case that red state policies on health care shave years off of people’s lives (more here)...and doesn’t it figure that this does indeed trace back to The Sainted Ronnie R? Also, I should check on the “seat belt law” thing since I think that was federally mandated...Rayy Vana is pretty smart on this stuff, but she may be off there (with Aida Rodriguez...I thought Rodriguez’s remarks were kid of all over the place; I wish she had talked instead about how the “party of Lincoln” is fighting tooth and nail against Medicaid expansion in the states as noted here)...



...and today would have been the 83rd birthday of John Lennon...



..and happy birthday also to Jackson Browne.

Friday Stuff

Jose Diaz-Balart (I think) interviews Adm. James Stavridis and Dave Aronberg on yet another story of Former *President Fergus Laing sharing secret intel (allegedly of course), this time having to do with nukes, and the recipient was an Australian billionaire, who then told two friends, and so on, and so on...this by itself should be disqualifying for Our Ochre Abomination to try and seek another term in the White House...but yeah, we know the reality...



...and I haven’t paid a lot of attention lately to Vlad The Butcher’s war of choice in Ukraine, but as Beau tells us here, the Russian navy was apparently driven out of the Black Sea by a country that doesn’t even have a navy, which is pretty freaking incredible as Beau tells us, and it should put the lie forever to wingnut claims about military spending on behalf of Ukraine...of course, all roads on that type of commentary lead back to Moscow as far as I’m concerned...



...and Ana and Cenk of TYT tell us about the goofball apparently bent on shooting Dem Wisconsin guv Tony Evers...seems this troglodyte first showed up shirtless with a handgun and was sent away, but then he came back with an AK-47 (and it truly is something out of a Kubrick movie that he could apparently carry his loaded AK-57 without a permit, but he needed a permit for his damn baton)...and Cenk’s comments about Dems allegedly wanting political violence being “weirdly high” is garbage as far as I’m concerned unless he can back that up with evidence – yet another reason why I don’t have a lot to do with TYT any more...at least Ana mentioned the story of the near-attack on San Francisco’s mayor, which was also ridiculous and that person should be prosecuted if warranted...



...and I know I’ve had a lot of clips recently from The Damage Report and Rayy Vana/Nina Turner, but they keep talking about topical stuff IMO, to their credit...this segment has to do with Almost Silent Clarence Thomas refusing to recuse himself on ruling on a case that could benefit his sugar daddy Harlan Crow (actually, it has to do with the SCOTUS deciding not to hear a case that would likely lead to weakening rent control laws; not touching those laws benefits the National Multifamily Housing Council, which is one of the parties in the case and a group to which Crow is aligned)...



...and Pap and Farron Cousins tell us that it looks Mohammed Bonesaw has arrested a young girl who defended someone online against the horrible Saudi regime and may end up losing her life for it, tragically enough (and can someone explain to me how this doesn’t make that nation where 15 of the 19 9/11 hijackers came from somehow on a par with Iran and North Korea?)...



...and Emma Vigeland and the Majority Report crew tell us that Fix Noise “hard news” guy Bret Baier sat down with MBS to supposedly discuss another case of someone threatened to be killed for expressing an unpopular opinion...very interesting theory about The Roger Ailes BS Factory having to grovel to the Saudis to get some dough to fight the Dominion and Smartmatic lawsuits...



...well, at least SOMEBODY basically flipped off the Saudis in this country, and it was Dem Arizona guv Katie Hobbs...seems she shut down some stinking corrupt water/land deal to grow alfalfa that was struck by the prior ruling Repug regime under former guv Doug Ducey (Kyle Kulinski fills us in)...



...and harking back to the first clip, when I recall Biden’s Oval Office predecessor, the title of this tune often comes to mind.

Thursday Stuff

Trae Crowder gives us his pithy, NSFW/H take on what just transpired with the Kevin McCarthy political human sacrifice; I can’t think of a word to describe the irony of screeching about working with the Dems when getting rid of “15 Votes For Speaker” was truly a bipartisan exercise, as Crowder notes...



...and Jesse Dollemore tells us about a woman in tears over wanting to meet Mango Mussolini at an Iowa rally, along with two other ladies allegedly from CA who didn’t know who “Gavin Newsa” was (I truly don’t know what the hell you do with these people, though shunning them might be a good first step)...



...and on the subject of conservative wackadoodles, Rayy Vana and Nina Turner of The Damage Report (definitely not them) tell us about this Brian Glenn character of “right side” broadcasting or whatever, who completely deserves Marjorie Trailer Park Greene (“liberal women are ugly,” huh? – of course, misogyny comes so easily to characters like him)...



...and I’m not familiar with this guy on Meidas Touch, but he makes a lot of sense when it comes to the dumbing down of our politics (slightly NSFW/H)...I would only add that the rot goes back MUCH further than #45 when it comes to putting stoo-pid people in charge (and I know I’m a broken record on this); it REALLY goes back to The Sainted Ronnie R...you literally need a book to catalog all of the outright lies, misstatements and obfuscations that go back to his first run for president in 1980...might as well start with this...



...and Thom Hartmann tells us about the work of the U of P’s Damon Linker into the slow-motion attempted takeover of our democracy by the billionaire class, aided enthusiastically by Not Your Father’s Republican Party...and I’m not surprised these cretins are going after Sherrod Brown the way they are, but sadly that fits their wretched profile...I also didn’t know about this Gestapo-like force in North Carolina, but yeah, that doesn’t surprise me either (more here)...



...well, for a dose of good news, Kyle Kulinski gives us an ad from President Biden going after Our Treasonous, Tiny-Handed Former *President on jobs lost from ’16-’20 despite Combover Caligula’s blowhard promises...



...and happy 80th birthday to Steve Miller; this is another occasion where I couldn’t make up my mind between two tunes, so I put up both of them...hope it’s a good one.

Wednesday Stuff

David Doel covers the “big story” here on “15 Votes for Speaker” McCarthy getting the boot (mildly NSFW/H)...kudos to Pramila Jayapal (who used the phrase "pigsty of incompetence" in another clip, which I think is spot-on about the House "leadership," sadly), and yeah, Big Stoo-pid Head Matt Gaetz voted for the stinking Trump tax boondoggle in December 2017 so “I take no lecture” from that assclown either...pretty much a recap of the most notable media moments at the end of McCarthy’s run as speaker, including Elise Stefanik’s nonsense too...I actually don’t think McCarthy will try again for speaker, but what do I know? And I think Steve Scalise is a good bet from these lunatics, and he would be utterly awful also...



...so who’s up next for the role? Why, Patrick McHenry of North Carolina, who’s made a name for himself by going after Elizabeth Warren and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (here)...McHenry is featured in this clip sucking up to the American Banker’s Association, saying that blaming bank failures on deregulation is “hackish”...McHenry is responsible for this utterly no-class move aimed at former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (who’s out of town for Dianne Feinstein’s funeral, adding another level of dickishness by McHenry)...McHenry is responsible for this also (as well as trying to get The Sainted Ronnie R on the $50 bill as noted here)...



Update 10/6/23: More on this pathetic little puke McHenry is here.

...oh, and tell me again how much we allegedly love kids in this country; funding for child care centers in the American Rescue Plan ended last Saturday, and with that freak show going on in the House, I think it’s unduly optimistic unfortunately to expect that that funding will be renewed...Rayy Vana and Nina Turner tell us more (and I would REALLY like for Turner to explain to me how this awful lapse in child care funding is the fault of the Dems WHEN THEY MADE SURE THE FUNDING WAS THERE IN THE FIRST PLACE! To be honest, the more Turner opens her mouth, the more I realize why she lost her Ohio state senate seat...I’m sorry to be mean, but all I hear from her is grievance – there’s a time and a place for that I know, but personally I think she overdoes it)...



...and Rachel Maddow comments on our political/media/industrial complex thinking that Dems and Repugs are “mirror images” of each other, while Matt Gaetz tries to boot “15 Votes for Speaker” Kevin McCarthy (a little behind the news cycle here, I realize), leading into a discussion of Irrational Spew having to get rid of some writers who were too racist even for them, including this Peter Brimelow character who founded VDARE, which espoused similar noxious sentiments...oh, and Brimelow ended up as a speechwriter for Gaetz, and if that surprises you, then you’re not paying attention to this mess...and I honestly didn’t know that about “Apartheid Clyde” and the X/bird app, but given what that platform has turned into, that doesn’t shock me either...



...and going from the ridiculous to the even-more ridiculous, Farron Cousins informs us that the lawyer in the fraud case for the Gropenfuhrer apparently forgot to tell the judge that #45 wanted a jury trial...rut-row...



Update 10/13/23: Apparently the above video was incorrect based on this - apologies.

...and this clip was filmed in February I believe even though this trio supposedly disbanded in April of ’22 – hopefully they’ll reconsider that move because I like their sound (and Portland, Maine where they’re from is a place I want to get to one day, for what it’s worth).

Tuesday Stuff

Jesse Dollemore tells us that Marjorie Trailer Park Greene says that the almost-government shutdown (though it still may yet comes to pass with her and the rest of the problem children calling the shots in the GOP House) was the price to be paid for the COVID lockdowns...I really can’t find a way to unwrap any “take” that’s that insane (NSFW/H)...



...and for the benefit of folks out there wondering how life forms like the GA-14 mistake have managed to rise to such prominence in our politics sadly, I would argue that what you could call “glibertarianism” is as big a culprit as anything else, and Thom Hartmann says that that all started with ‘50s real estate cretins, like the father of #45 I would argue, arising as a response to Brown v. Board, though getting rid of rent control was a goal also as Thom tells us...also infamous was David Koch running on a 1980 platform of basically ending all public services except police, courts and the military...the philosophy came from Ayn Rand of course, and I’d forgotten about the story of Edward Hickman and how Rand loved this guy...what utter madness, and I mean that towards both of them...clip ends at about 4:06...



...and true to their wretched form, it looks like “never Trump” Repugs are falling in line behind you-know-who, as Farron Cousins explains...



...and Jayar and Rayy Vana of The Damage Report tell us that the SCOTUS (which just began a new term...God help us), amazingly, won’t let Alabama use gerrymandered voting maps (gosh, I’m shocked; I thought “balls and strikes” Roberts said racism didn’t exist anymore...removing my tongue from my cheek)...



...and Francesca and Nina Turner discuss the beyond-awful Jessica Burgess story out of Nebraska, trying to get an abortion for her daughter who became pregnant but was apparently in an abusive relationship...from what I can gather, the mom was sentenced to two years in prison mainly because she interfered with the police investigation and burned and buried the fetal remains...I’m certainly not advocating doing that either, but to me also, access to safe medical abortion is the issue, the procedure I mean, which of course has been gutted by Dobbs, as well as access to pills...and I also don’t completely understand how law enforcement was originally notified; how would they know about this unless the company providing the pills deliberately outed the Burgesses (the mom and daughter), which to me is a whole other matter that needs to be thoroughly investigated, and the people at the company who may have outed the Burgesses – allegedly of course – should be held liable also...



Update: And on the subject of abortion as health care for women, I would say that supporting this lady running for office in Tennessee is one way to fight back to preserve Roe.

...and I now give you the latest installment of “This Day In Doomsy History” (more or less) from 10/2/18...the late, great Michael Brooks of The Majority Report points out that Repug a-hole Josh Hawley, running against incumbent Claire McCaskill at the time, aired one of his ridiculous syrupy ads of his talking about how he wanted to cover pre-existing conditions through the ACA, when in fact he and fellow Repug Kevin Cramer, who also defeated an incumbent Senate Dem that year (albeit with trickery) were trying to get rid of pre-existing condition coverage in the ACA...typical (more related odious stuff with Hawley is here, and to do something about him, click here)...



...and Eric Willoughby is my “hero of the week” for this (more here...I love the looks on the faces of these idiot Repugs in NC getting called out by Willoughby, as if to say “how dare this punk tell us how crooked we are!”)...



...and on this day in 1978, Fort Wayne, Indiana cops arrested anywhere from 28-58 fans at an Aerosmith concert for smoking pot, prompting Steven Tyler to chastise them Jim Morrison-style from the stage...Tyler announced that the band would bail out anyone who was arrested that night, and the next day they did just that, though understandably, memories of the event are hazy...here is a tune for the occasion.

Monday Stuff

I know I’m a few days late here, but I guess attention must be paid to that ridiculous freak show last Wednesday that masqueraded as a Repug Party prez candidates’ debate...so Vivek Ramaswamy and Mike Pence want a national ban on gender affirming care and requiring that schools “out” kids who may be trans, huh? Nah, we’re not devolving into Nazi Germany much, are we (Francesca and Farron Cousins of The Damage Report discuss)...

...and Robert Reich gives us another useful reminder about what exactly it is that our government is supposed to do for us by taxation; namely, providing services, performing general maintenance for our aging infrastructure, and yes, national defense, among other needs (a response to everyone decrying the allegedly awful “s” word)...



...and the latest from Second Thought tells us more about Why The Government Can’t Run Out of Money (admittedly dry but still interesting stuff on how foreign currency can lead to inflation, among many other points of discussion, to say nothing of price gouging...”The problem with government spending is profit,” which I always suspected, and I’m glad to see that explained here...good to see the point raised at about 13:50 about how we can influence our government’s money decisions...”The only obstacle left is how much improving people’s lives costs the capitalist ruling class” indeed)...



...and Cliff Schecter of Blue Amp Channel brings us Dem U.S. House Rep Jasmine Crockett commendably going off during the utterly bogus Biden impeachment inquiry, along with Repug Rep Brandon Williams smugly telling everybody that he would continue to collect a paycheck during the shutdown even though many, many other federal employees and contractors wouldn’t be able to do that (and yes, yet another temporary agreement was reached as noted here...NSFW/H)...



...and Jayar and Rayy Vana tell us about John Fetterman’s plan to forgive school lunch debt (Sheldon Whitehouse and Peter Welch in the Senate are also on board as noted – Farron Cousins alluded to this earlier)...yeah, let’s throw the “personal responsibility” BS at HUNGRY FREAKING KIDS, you effing Repug ghouls! – and yeah, the stuff about wishing a kid a happy birthday but saying, “you can’t eat” despite that is something out of a Kubrick movie...



...and I hope you're in the mood for a newer, angst-filled Britpop tune, because here it is.

Friday Stuff

Here is President Biden’s recent speech at the McCain Institute about our democracy (here)...speech is about 35:00 – I’m not going to try and paraphrase it because it’s so important that I think we should watch all of it (and I can’t believe he was interrupted like that by that clown yelling about fossil fuels at about 8:50...I don’t give a damn if the guy’s a lefty or not; that interruption was rude and stoo-pid) – someone who is allegedly a doddering old man could not come up with something like this – I have a feeling he wrote a good bit of it, and he did a terrific job delivering all of it...and he’s used that line “not the example of our power but the power of our example” at least once before, and that was at the inaugural – of course, Peter Baker of the New York Times will find a reason to criticize it in an upcoming negative column I’m sure...I wish Biden had spoken more about the “dark money” interests behind atrocities such as Project 2025, which he alluded to a bit with that “Schedule F” remark, but what he said was definitely good enough and motivation for us all to do our best to negate, as much as possible, the garbage in what passes for our political discourse and work to get Democrats elected...



Update: More here.

Update 9/30/23: And as a bit of a “compare and contrast” exercise when it comes to presidents and speeches, I give you this.

...and in Biden’s speech, he made reference to Our Ochre Abomination and #45’s attacks on Gen. Mark Milley, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff; David Pakman gives us an excerpt of an interview with Milley to air on “60 Minutes,” probably this Sunday (and I realize I shouldn’t dignify Mango Mussolini’s absurd comments on Truth Septic about the Afghanistan withdrawal under President Biden, but I’ll only say this...you can blame Biden for maybe not recognizing how badly the situation on the ground had degraded, as well as overly optimistic thinking of how willing the Afghan army was to fight against the Taliban, but you can also blame 45 for originally setting a thoroughly unrealistic withdrawal date of May 1st, 2021 as well as allowing the Taliban to achieve its greatest level of strength in that country since 2001...as noted here, there wasn’t going to be an easy way to end our nation’s longest war regardless of who the president was...and who was it again who initially invited the Taliban to Camp David for peace talks before the justifiable outcry forced him to cancel the meeting as noted here?)...



..and RIP Dianne Feinstein – yes, her final years were forgettable (I defended her in those remarks to the kids about “my way or the highway” because I thought what she said was taken out of context a bit), but she was definitely a titan of the Senate in her day...what propelled her career, as it turns out, was the twin murders of San Francisco Mayor George Moscone and Supervisor Harvey Milk, which I can’t imagine that any sane person would have wanted, but she answered the call as San Francisco mayor and also by serving in the “upper chamber”...big shoes to fill to be sure...



...and Leeja Miller gives us another comprehensive clip on Why The U.S. Has So Many Prisoners (another great report, this time on the history of incarceration in this country pretty much...as Miller correctly points out, it was an easy transition to be fearful of African Americans as slaves and keep them oppressed to being fearful of them as “the other” in the ‘60s and ‘70s in response to civil rights when it came to our criminal justice system and keep them oppressed for that alleged reason also)...and yes, that quote from John Ehrlichman pretty much nails it, as we know...lots of other important history, including the drug stuff that funded the Central American garbage in the ‘80s under The Sainted Ronnie R which played a big role in the crack cocaine epidemic in this country back then, and the 100-to-1 ratio of crack vs. powder that played a role in the beyond-ridiculous mandatory minimum sentencing (with the explosion of incarceration as noted)...and as others have pointed out, the prison furlough policy Michael Dukakis was victimized for in the ’88 presidential contest (the Willie Horton ad of course) was instituted by a Republican Massachusetts governor (here)...



...and Jesse Dollemore brings us a video about a GREAT ad from the “Lose Cruz” PAC...I’ll probably have a nightmare now of “Cancun Cruz” yelling “PODCAST!”...this is all good fun I know, but to do something about Cruz for real, click here...and yes, I know it’s Texas and the odds are long, but there’s no hope at all if we choose to do nothing...



...and the weekend is here at last - hallelujah!